The opening line to OMFS begins “Farewell thou child of my right hand”. There isn’t anything ambiguous about it, we know immediately a child has died. Broken down into two sections, this line already shows us the tone of the poem. “Farewell thou child” shows us from the very start that this is a poem where something has gone and it’s not returning. Also the poem is addressed to the child, not about it. Unlike MTB this is a way of showing the authors grief directly rather than through words and emotions. “[T]hou child of my right hand” makes the child seem more than just a person to Johnson, but more like a partner. It’s frequently said how you right hand man is your best friend and most trusted companion, also in ways of the Gods; the right hand man would have been an accomplice or a personal messenger so we really see the seriousness of how much the child meant to Johnson. Heaney’s beginning to MTB is completely different in comparison. “I sat all morning in the college sick bay” is a much more laid back start to a poem as it’s extremely simple linguistically, using everyday words and writing in a journalistic form. It’s a very detached sentence which really kicks off the poem with no messing about. Compared with the complexity of Johnson’s writing this is extremely bland and almost un-meaningful. Of course it’s not un-meaningful at all because as we progress into the poem the language changes becoming more complicated, for example the description of “wearing a poppy bruise” is not as obvious as the first line. The two lines, although they prepare us for similar poems on child deaths, start us in very obvious different ways as MTB does not prepare us for a poem about death. The first line of it sets us up for a poem about a holiday for teenagers or possibly someone going home early as they’re ill whereas OMFS immediately plunges into the concept of somebody lost.
Both Heaney and Johnson are both from religious backgrounds but both have different styles which are inflicted into their poems. Heaney was from a strict catholic background and Johnson was in a time where everyone was strictly protestant. Therefore they both included a significant amount of religious context in their writing. Johnson says, “tho’ wert lent to me and I thee pay” which gives the impression he believes God leant him his son and when his time was up, the bill of life was paid back. This shows how strongly he has faith in God and is being consoled by the effects of religion because it’s almost as if he’s saying that God knows what he’s doing. Heaney goes about it differently, saying “Snow drops and candles soothed the bedside”. The candle and snow drops are both symbols of serenity and peace, showing how the dead child is now comfortable. Also because snow drops are white it shows the purity of this, and they care known to come out at the beginning of spring so can be seen as a new life starting somewhere else. In both poems, the deaths seem very soothing. Heaney says the “candles soothed the bedside” and Johnson says “Rest is a soft peace”. This imagery seems more like the children are sleeping though, rather than dead. Both the writers seem strong through their poems, however, Johnson does say “could I loose all father” which can be interpreted in different ways. We could see it as him saying he’s contemplating suicide, but I think we know this wouldn’t have been an option as this would only send him to hell. I think it would be more correct to see it as him simply relinquishing fatherhood now.
Johnson’s poem seems to see death as a heroic thing as he is writing the poem in heroic couplets, and refers to the death and something “he should envie”. Heaney’s poem however seems to see it more as a dire thing and the death of his brother was seen as “a hard blow”. Both of the poets mention how old the dead children were, but neither of them actually says so. Heaney sneaks it in as he ends the poem “a four foot box, a foot for every year” and Johnson says “seven yeeres tho’ wert lent to me” which shows that the age of the children is not important, yet still significant. The description of Heaney’s brothers wounds are that he was “wearing a poppy bruise” which implies the wonder of how something so small could cause so much damage, as if he’s in disbelief whereas Johnson embraces the death of his son, “Exacted by thy fate”. It also gives us the war imagery as poppies are worn as remembrance for the soldiers.
I find the most effective poem Heaney’s Mid-Term Break because I can understand it more at first glance and I think that it is more likely to draw people in because they don’t have to study it in as much detail. However the detail in Johnson’s On My First Sonne does stop you and leave you wandering, so I also think this is effective.
